


Show Him

by respoftw



Series: Tumblr Prompts - Hawksilver edition [12]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2015-05-15
Packaged: 2018-03-30 16:58:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3944509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>occult-anon-san said:<br/>Are you still taking prompts? If so can we see a Pietro suffering from nightmares from all the experimentation he had gone through, and Clint being there to comfort him? owo</p>
            </blockquote>





	Show Him

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SciaticSpace929](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SciaticSpace929/gifts).



Pietro wasn't an easy man to love.

 

He was quick to anger, slow to forgiveness. His sense of humour could sometimes fall on the wrong side of mean. Anyone who wanted a place in his life would have to come to terms with the fact that they would _always_ come second to Wanda.

 

Clint loved Pietro completely.

 

He felt things passionately, he had the courage to stay true to his convictions, and honestly, Clint's sense of humour could be a little mean sometimes too. As for coming second to Wanda? Clint would never dream of coming between the Maximoff twins. He knew a little about what it was like to be on your own in this world, to be forgotten, and the lengths that Wanda and Pietro had gone to in an effort to stay together, to be there for each other no matter what...Clint could understand that. What's more, he admired it.

 

In fact, the only bone Clint can pick with his and Pietro's relationship is that they never sleep together.

 

They have sex. A _lot_ of sex. There's even cuddling afterwards but they've never actually _slept_ together. Pietro always finds an excuse to leave or kick Clint out. He'd accepted it at first, figuring that Pietro just needed a bit of time. He knows it takes a certain level of trust to sleep in front of another person, especially when you've led the type of life Pietro had. Sleep is when you're at your most vulnerable. Clint gets it, he does, but after six months it's starting to grate.

 

“Why does it matter?! It's just sleep. I don't understand why you need to share a bed with me?”

 

Clint throws his hands up in exasperation at Pietro's bloody mindedness. “Because I love you, you idiot. I want to hold you as you fall asleep, I want to wake up in your arms. How is that so goddamn hard to understand?!” He breathes heavily, sick and tired of having the same old fight. He just doesn't....does Pietro still not trust him, after all this time? Or is it something else, something much, much worse?

 

Clint's voice is small as he asks the question that's been haunting him. “Is this just sex?”

 

“What? No, never. How could you think that?” Pietro looks hurt that Clint could ever have even suggested such a thing.

 

“What else am I supposed to think, Pietro? You leave me every night, you push me out of your bed. I....look, I'm not getting any younger. I want to be with you..all the time. I want to live with you, I want us to live together I just don't see how that can ever happen when you won't even let me sleep in the same bed as you.”

 

There are unshed tears in Clint's eyes as he pleads with Pietro, tries to get him to listen. He watches, broken as Pietro walks out the door.

 

Clint barely has time to start falling apart before Pietro is back, dragging a confused Wanda with him.

 

“Show him.” Pietro demands.

Wanda whispers furiously to her brother in Sokovian. Despite his best attempts at learning the language (if only to translate the breathy moans that Pietro makes in bed), Clint only manages to catch a word or two. Not enough to ease his worries.

 

“I'm sure.” Pietro promises. “He needs to see.”

 

Wanda's eyes are soft as she touches Pietro's face sadly and nods. Clint takes an involuntary step back as she moves towards him.

 

“Clint, I know you hate when Wanda does this but you need to see. I can't....I can't talk. Please.”

 

It's the please that does it. Pietro Maximoff doesn't say please. He pouts, he withholds sex, he gives the cold shoulder until he gets his own way. He's never said please.

 

Clint lets Wanda approach and grits his teeth as he sees the red mist pool from her fingers.

 

Then suddenly he's watching a stringy haired, broken looking Pietro curled up in the corner of a filthy cell. He wants to move, to pick him up, to check him over but he knows this is a memory. It doesn't make seeing it any easier.

 

Pietro is vibrating, his entire body shaking so hard that Clint doesn't know how he's still whole. Then in a blur of motion, Pietro is crashing into the wall of his cell, choking out sobs that break Clint's heart. The bursts of uncontrollable speed continue, Clint watching in horror as Pietro crashes from wall to floor to wall. He flinches with each landing, watching the bruises bloom over Pietro's skin.

 

The scene changes and Pietro is sitting on the cell's poor excuse for a bed. Clint is relieved at first, to see that he's finally still, until he realises just how unnatural the stillness is. Pietro doesn't respond as his cell door bursts open, a lab tech coming in to install a time-lapse camera. Strucker and List are there. Not even the knowledge that this is not actually happening right now can stop Clint from taking a swing at them as they marvel at their results. From the two men's conversation Clint starts to understand why Pietro is so still. They've succeeded in taking him out of time. Clint's eyes widen with shock as he realises that Pietro isn't unresponsive, he's just moving too slowly for the eye to see.

 

Another change of scene and Pietro is strapped down on a table. His entire body is jerking, spasming as he tries desperately to speed away. The bonds are secure, he can't move. Clint wants to cover his ears, anything to stop hearing the agonised screams coming from the man he loves as Pietro thrashes and fights against the metal bondage while calm men in lab coats nod their head and take notes on how prolonged inactivity affects the “subject”.

 

One last scene. Clint is standing in Pietro's bedroom in Avengers HQ, a room he's more than familiar with. He can see the signs of their relationship, the Hawkeye and Quicksilver action figures that Pietro enjoys posing in ridiculously lewd positions on the bedside table, one of his purple t-shirts hanging over the back of Pietro's computer chair.

 

Pietro is asleep. It's the first time Clint has ever seen him sleeping. Most people look younger, more innocent, when they're asleep. Pietro looks old, haggard. His body is twisting in the bedsheets, frightened whimpers falling from his mouth. Clint can't help but flash back to a struggling Pietro fighting against his bonds in the HYDRA base.

 

Screams rip from sleeping Pietro's throat as he bolts upright in the bed, quickly dissolving into heaving sobs. Clint watches, heart clenching as Pietro crawls his way to the end of the bed, reaches out to grab the purple t-shirt and uses it to muffle his cries as he curls into himself.

 

As reality floods back in, Clint realises he's crying too.

 

Wanda leaves the room quietly. Clint has to wonder just how bad HYDRA had been for her. He guesses there are similar scenes of horror in her past too. In many ways, knowing that will be the hardest thing Pietro has to live with.

 

Alone again, the two men remain silent for a beat before Clint pulls his boyfriend into his arms. Pietro clings on, burying his face against Clint's neck.

 

“I didn't know how to explain.”

 

“You don't have to explain.”

 

They'll talk later. Pietro will open up about his nightmares. Clint will share his own tales of the horrifying things he did while under the control of Loki. They'll sleep together for the first time. It will be hard. They'll take turns being there for each other in the night. Waking each other up at the first sign of bad dreams, tangling themselves together as they try to keep from falling apart.

 

For now though, they just hold each other.

 

It's not just sex. They're both hard men to love, but Clint and Pietro love each other completely.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [Tumblr](http://pietrolovesclint.tumblr.com)


End file.
